Ask Geo: What’s up with those big rims?

Thursday

Admit it. You do double-takes, too, when you see cars with big, chrome rims driving around town.

And the bigger the rims, the more I’m lookin’.

The guys who put big rims on their car and truck tires are customizing their vehicles precisely to turn heads, said Nicholas Lamendola, president of Advent Motoring in Rockford, who said 70 percent of the company’s sales come from selling rims and accompanying tires.

“The whole thing is about ‘look at me,’” he said.

The movement toward putting bigger rims on tires, rather than keeping the smaller ones that come on cars out of the factory, is increasing, Lamendola said.

“It’s a trend, just like Honda race cars were during the early 2000s,” he said.

Eight years ago, though, the largest rim size available was 20 inches, Lamendola said. Now it’s 34 inches. The most popular being purchased at Advent is 22 inches.

Most people who buy rims at Advent are between the ages of 21 and 40. About 90 percent of Advent’s rim customers are men.

“Sometimes we get middle-aged guys who want giant rims because they want to be young again,” Lamendola said. No matter the age, they’re all willing to spend the money to have their wheels look good, he added.

Rims can be pricey. Lamendola said rims alone can cost from $400 to $15,000; rims and new tires to fit them can cost $700 to $30,000. Plus, it typically costs $1,200 to $3,500 to have your car or truck raised, including new shocks and struts, to accommodate some of the bigger rims and tires.

How does the ride feel on cars with bigger rims and slimmer rubber on the tires, especially if they’re lowered for an additional eye-catching look? Surprisingly good, Lamendola said. They hug curves better, but you have to watch out for potholes.

Don’t we all?

Contact Georgette Braun at gbraun@rrstar.com.

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‘There’s no better feeling’

Darren Lemmons’ 2000 Cadillac Escalade hugs the pavement with an upscale look that includes 20-inch rims on a frame lowered 3.5 inches.
He paid about $22,000 for the SUV four years ago and invested $5,000 in the rims and tires.

Lemmons, a factory assembler, also owns a 1979 Pontiac TransAm and a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1. He, his wife and their three children use the Escalade for family outings.

“The kids usually spot rims on other cars before I do,” he said. “They know when they see something cool.”

Lemmons said he’s into customizing all his vehicles.

“There’s not any other vehicle that looks like mine, and for a car guy, there’s no better feeling,” he said.

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Meet the ‘King of the parking lot’

Michael Stewart’s big-rimmed car has an old-school feel but not an old-fashioned look or price tag.

Stewart figures he’ll spend $20,000 on his 1973 Oldsmobile Omega before he’s done trickin’ it out, and that’s on top of the $3,500 he paid for the car.

Costs include $5,800 for the 26-inch rims and tires he had put on at Advent Motoring in Rockford, $3,500 to raise it to accommodate the big wheels, $3,000 for Lamborghini doors that open upward (which were being installed after the photo here was taken), $3,000 for interior work, and the rest for such odds and ends as a motion-sensor security system, 1,500-watt amplifiers and three TVs.

“It’s called ‘stunting’ — showing off,” said Stewart, who assembles vehicles at the Chrysler plant in Belvidere. “I like flashy things. Your vehicle is a reflection of you. I get guys in $100,000 cars looking at my toy. It makes me feel like I’m on top of the world.”

Stewart, a father of four, drives a plain-looking Ford Expedition to work. But he rides around town doing errands in his blue-and-white Omega — except during winter — and plans to take it to car shows.

The lettering on his Omega proclaims his thinking about the car: “King of the parking lot.”

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